Symptoms of Stomach Cancer

Unfortunately, symptoms of stomach cancer are often absent or not recognized until the disease is more advanced. Part of the reason for this is that the stomach is a large open sac with a great deal of space inside. Therefore, when a tumor grows from its inner wall it can get quite large without impacting surrounding structures or the function of the stomach itself. For this reason, many patients present with advanced disease by the time they have symptoms that bring them to medical attention.

While the specific location of the tumor can impact the stage at which symptoms occur, early disease usually has no associated symptoms. At these stages some patients are diagnosed because they have incidental complaints, other unrelated symptoms, which leads to testing that identifies the stomach cancer.

As the tumor enlarges, patients may experience symptoms of stomach cancer. Most of these symptoms are non-specific and can be confused for other things. Examples include:

• Indigestion
• Nausea and/or vomiting
• Difficulty swallowing (dysphagia)
• A sense of early fullness after eating (postprandial fullness)
• Loss of appetite
• Vomiting blood (hematemesis)
• Weight loss
• Blood in the stool (occult blood or melena)

In very advanced disease, other symptoms can occur as well. As the tumor becomes more invasive and widespread in the body it can cause obstruction of the digestive system, fluid collection in the abdomen (peritoneal effusion) or around the lungs (pleural effusion), major bleeding in the stomach, liver and bile duct dysfunction due to invasion or bile duct obstruction, jaundice and severe weight loss (cachexia).